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bivouac at Sous Dîne

January 29, 2009

The best time of the two weeks of the winter training was without a doubt the last two days. The objective was to put into practice the techniques we learned the previous days, especially to build and spend a night in a snow shelter. The meeting was fixed on Tuesday morning at the Plateau des Glières Nordic ski resort parking. To test our orienteering techniques, split into teams we had to go to pass by points before reaching to the Sous Dine mountain summit. We then had to find a suitable place to dig our hotel for the night.
This trek was a fun experience on all points, with great weather conditions and deep powder snow from the day before… pure pleasure. The first day we had a clear weather and could enjoy beautiful panoramas. In the evening, the sky got cloudy in altitude, diffusing a really particular light giving to surrounding summits a silver reflection ; breathtaking !

snowshoeing on the montagne des Frêtes on day 4 - 1snowshoeing on the montagne des Frêtes on day 4 - 2snowshoeing on the montagne des Frêtes on day 4 - 3sea of trees on the montagne des Frêtes day 4frozen stream at Champ Laitier day 4snowshoeing at Champ Laitier day 4near the chalet du Planclimbing to the Landron pass 1climbing to the Landron pass 4arriving at the Landron pass 1arriving at the Landron pass 2lunch at the Landron passliving the Landron pass 1doing the trace on the way to the Sous Dine summitclimbing to the Sous Dine summit 1doing the trace on the way to the Sous Dine summit 2climbing to the Sous Dine summit 2climbing to the Sous Dine summit 3climbing to the Sous Dine summit 4climbing to the Sous Dine summit 6climbing to the Sous Dine summit 7climbing to the Sous Dine summit 5climbing to the Sous Dine summit with the Mont-Blanc in the backpanorama on the way to the Sous Dine summit 3near the Sous Dine summit 2near the Sous Dine summit facing the Mont-Blancnear the Sous Dine summit 1arriving at the Sous Dine summit 1Sous Dine summit panoramathe Sous Dine summitthe Mont-Blanc from the Sous dine summitliving the Sous Dine summit 1living the Sous Dine summit 2the bivouac place under the Sous Dine summitdiging snow caves


Arrived at the bivouac place, we dug our snow cave in time before the weather got worse so we could spend the night protected from the snow storm which blew during the night. The night was really comfortable in our snow cave ; I even felt too hot in my winter sleeping bag. The temperature when we woke up inside our shelter was positive : +3°C !

digging a snow cave 1digging a snow cave 2digging a snow cave 3digging a snow cave 4dinner inside the snow cave 1dinner inside the snow cave 2good nightearly morning inside the snow cave


Outside, it was a different story. A strong wind was blowing, snow was following and passed under 1800m, we walked under a heavy rain.

living our hotelsnow storm on the way back

Despite we arrived completely soaked, it was a great experience made with the ingredients that make a good trek : conviviality and incredible panoramas.

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